Power Outtage
by ElilPotter01
Summary: It's a cold night on the TARDIS when the ship loses power. And Rose starts to have nightmares about losing her Doctor. RosexTen set after The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit.


Power Outtage

The Doctor and Rose ran head on towards the TARDIS and burst inside, the Doctor bringing the doors closed behind him before springing up the steps towards the console. Rose stepped to the side, bending over laughing with excitement.

"Right!" the Doctor yelled, releasing the handbrake, thus setting the TARDIS in motion. The familiar siren rang and the ground shook as they were sent hurdling through the time vortex. The Doctor spun round and leaned against the console with a huge grin plastered on his face. His eyes had that all too familiar gleam of excitement and adventure.

"Where to now Rose Tyler?" he turned back to the controls of the TARDIS. "I can take you to the planet Belushi in the Scarlet system; the planet Paledon—better not though; something bad always seems to happen when I'm there, we never did get to visit Barcelona; or how about the planet Clum? I've never been there before! Atlantis? The renaissance? How about November 1st 1913? Nothing really special in particular as far as I'm concerned but you never know," the Doctor continued to ramble as he flipped switches, turned gears and pulled levers on the console.

Rose leaned back against a coral column and watched the Doctor scrambling about the console. His hair was out at every angle and he had just pulled out his rectangular spectacles, making Rose's heart kick up a notch. He did always look so cute and sexy with those glasses on. And the hair? Really big hair he had said if she recalled correctly. What would it feel like to run her fingers through that big hair? Picturing her and the Doctor in an intimate embrace, she suddenly shook her head clear of such thoughts. He was the Doctor, a Time lord, a genius, a hero, and she was Rose, a human, a stupid ape, only a friend. Pushing off from the column, Rose winced at the soreness in her arms and legs. What she wanted to visit most at the moment was her bed, and to take a long nap. But the Doctor needed an answer; otherwise he would bother her later with those puppy dog eyes and a pout in his lips.

She climbed the steps up to the main deck just as the ship began to shake violently, forcing her roughly into the pilot seat. She gasped as every muscle in her body ached with the impact, and the Doctor clutched tightly to the rails around the console. His rambling immediately replaced with silence and a scared look on his face.

"What's happening?" Rose cried. The Doctor frantically pushed buttons in attempt to stop the trembling.

"I don't know!" the Doctor was scared. Rose could tell. The TARDIS was doing something wrong and he couldn't stop it nor figure out why. All of a sudden, everything went black and still. Rose relaxed her hold on the back of the seat hesitantly, and the Doctor looked up at the domed ceiling. A flicker from the console lit up the time rotor, but shed no light on any other location.

"That's a relief," the Doctor sighed and began to press buttons once again, hoping to extend the TARDIS's power to the rest of the vessel. Nothing happened. Rose stood up and stayed out of the Doctor's way as he resumed spinning around furiously, trying desperately to fix the power.

"I don't understand!" the Doctor called from the other side of the console. "She has power, but not enough! She's never been on life support before, and she can't be that old! Well, technically speaking she is older than me, a museum piece when I found her, but still!" he cried, still maniacally flipping switches. "I've flown her for years and I've never seen anything like it! Not even with other models! I met this other Time lord, long long time ago, living as a monk in the sixteen-hundreds. Had the same model and he had been there for decades! Possibly centuries, and he never had this problem! Never! Although, he could still work the chameleon circuit on his." The Doctor stepped back from the controls, ran his fingers through his hair, and removed his glasses. Rose stepped closer towards the Doctor and looped her hands into the crook of his elbow. She looked up at the glowing column in the center of the chamber.

"Maybe we're stuck in another dimension again?" She suggested. The Doctor looked down at her then gazed back up stoically.

"Even if we were, we couldn't get out. The TARDIS is on automatic shutdown." He glanced at the doors. "She'll have them locked for protection." Rose looked at the TARDIS doors then back at the Doctor.

"So we're stuck?"

"Yeah."

"But stuck with you, that's not so bad," The Doctor looked down at Rose and her tongue in teeth grin. He smiled.

"Really?"

"Yes." Rose leaned into the Doctor's side and he shifted to wrap his arms around her. She had said being stuck with him wasn't so bad, but he still had made a promise to Jackie. What if they really were stuck? It was Kruptor all over again. But at least they had the TARDIS this time. He looked back at the time rotor, dimly glowing in the center of the main control room. He held Rose tighter as an affirmation that he would do everything in his power to get her back home. They held each other for a while until the doctor broke free of their tight embrace.

"Well, no use just moping and standing still!" The Doctor jumped back into his hyper-active mode. "She isn't going to fix herself you know!" he flipped a couple switches then bounded to an unknown room off the hall. Rose was left standing for only a brief second when the Doctor ran back in with an extension cord and his sonic screwdriver in his mouth. Rose stifled a giggle at the sight of him. Crouching next to the pilot seat, the Doctor pulled up a grate and climbed inside. Odd clanks echoed from below and there were a couple shouts followed by muttered curses. Rose crouched down next to the hole and peered inside. The Doctor was squeezed between tubes and wirings with a circuit board in one hand, his sonic screwdriver in another and the extension cord clenched between his teeth; his glasses back on.

"Need some help?" Rose called down, startling the Doctor as he looked up. Or at least she thought she startled him since the cord fell from his open mouth.

"Uhhh," he looked at his surroundings. "Actually I think I'm good thanks." He looked down at the circuit board and back up at Rose. She was leaned over quite a bit and he thanked Rassilon that she hadn't worn that v-neck t-shirt she was looking at earlier. Otherwise the Doctor didn't think he'd be able to keep a steady head.

"No really, I'm fine. Don't worry about me," he insisted. And with that he went back to his work. Rose pulled away from the hole and sat back in the pilot seat. The Doctor may have said he was fine for now, but she figured sooner or later he would have her pushing buttons or pulling wires out of the floor soon enough. More clanks resounded along with faint buzzes of the sonic screw driver. It wasn't long until the Doctor's head popped up again. His hair was up at all ends and he removed his glasses with a small groan finished by a sigh.

"Nothing," he exclaimed. "Nothing I do will give her more power! She literally cannot handle it all!" he ran his hand down the front of his face. Rose looked at him questioningly.

"So she's dead?"

"Not dead, no! Just on life support." The Doctor looked up at the time rotor, where the TARDIS's energy was stored. "She'll get better, just not for a while. And I'm not sure how long a while is because it could take hours, it could take days, weeks, months, possibly even years. I've never seen anything like it!" he scratched the back of his head then gave a large smile in Rose's direction. "Only time will tell!" his grin fell for a moment at seeing the tiredness in Rose's eyes as well as the rest of her. Looking back, he noticed that she had walked a little slower up the steps, and even winced slightly when he hugged her.

"Rose, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she shrugged, running her fingers through her hair. The Doctor gave her a concerned look but returned his gaze to the rest of the TARDIS.

"I might be able to add slivers of power step by step. It would avoid the chance of a massive overload to what the TARDIS can handle and if I go overboard, she'll crash for sure." He glanced down at the wires surrounding him. "If I just hook up these wires into that switch and adjust these all accordingly—" Rose instantly tuned out of the Doctor's babbling. Seeing that there was indeed no way that she could help, it was time that she got to bed. Her muscles were begging her.

"Right then," she yawned. Stretching her limbs, Rose stepped carefully down the steps. Once she reached the bottom, she looked up towards the console, and her eyes fell on the open grate. "I'll just be in my room then!" and she departed.

The Doctor popped out of the hole fingering the settings on his sonic screwdriver. "With any luck I should be able to reroute the wiring and possibly shift the maintenance supply to the time rotor, helping her get somewhere—Rose?" he looked around the room. It was empty. Shrugging, the Doctor looked back to his screwdriver. The setting he had programmed was having difficulty loading. He banged the barrel. There was no indication that his efforts had been effective. Stuffing the screwdriver back in his jacket pocket, the Doctor jumped out of the grate. He circled the console and pressed his hand on the column.

"Hang in there old girl, I'll find a way," he muttered. The sooner he got this under control, the sooner he could check on Rose.

He glanced back down into the grate and saw a stray wire across the floor. Peering closer it seemed that he forgot to reroute one of the cables. Quickly he extracted it from its original wiring and the light in the time rotor went out. The Doctor froze. He remembered why that cable was left untouched at once. It was the main wire that was still feeding energy. And he had disconnected it. There was a small flicker of light, just enough for the Doctor to immediately correct his mistake. After plugging in the cable he heard a faint hum from the TARDIS. Not in words, but in feelings it was clear that the Doctor should stop meddling with the mechanics and let time take its course.

"If that's what you want," he muttered as he climbed out of the hole and pulled the cover over. Dusting off his hands, he jumped down from the deck. Maybe he would go check on Rose. She was probably all right, but he had to check.

Rose curled up in her bed. She was extremely cold and it was affecting her ability to fall asleep. Shivering slightly under the covers, she pulled her feet up closer to her. The blankets were pulled up around her chin, her knuckles tight on the under ends. Since the TARDIS had lost power, everything branching off from the console room became significantly cooler. It only made sense; with so many rooms, the TARDIS couldn't heat them all. Shivering yet again, Rose rubbed her feet together for warmth. She wished she would have kept her socks on, but they always slipped right off and wouldn't have been much help. She turned over and grabbed her green sweatshirt jacket hanging off the back of a nearby chair. After slipping it on, Rose closed her eyes and tried desperately yet again to fall asleep.

After a few minutes, Rose was finally adjusting to the temperature in the room when the door opened a crack. Already falling into unconscious, she made no attempt to open her eyes. The Doctor slipped into the room and stood with his hands in his pockets by the edge of her bed. Not quite fully adjusted, Rose let out an involuntary shiver in her sleep. The Doctor noted this immediately and searched the room for a blanket. He couldn't let Rose get cold. Finding no extra blankets in the room he went off to other parts of the TARDIS. Surely the ship kept some in the library. Rose always enjoyed curling up on the sofa with a book, some tea, and a blanket on the rare vacation days in the TARDIS. Finding a blue fleece, he sprinted back to Rose's room and gently laid it on top of her. His knuckles grazed her chin unintentionally as he drew the blanket up. Rose stirred slightly and leaned her head closer to the Doctor's hand. He froze. But she didn't wake and he relaxed.

Feeling that he had completed his duty of checking on Rose, the Doctor turned to leave the room. Perhaps the TARDIS would accept his help, for Rose's sake. His hand reached the door knob when Rose stirred again.

"Doctor," she muttered. The Doctor stopped and turned. Rose was still asleep, a small smile on her lips. It made the Doctor smile too, seeing her so content. She hummed softly and the Doctor took a small step forward. It couldn't hurt to stay just a little while longer could it? He edged closer to the side of her bed, just staring at the beautiful young blonde. Her hair curled around her face which still had traces of eyeliner and mascara around her eyes. Humming again, Rose rolled over in her sleep and smiled. But the smile quickly went away, and she called out his name again.

"Doctor," and he froze yet again. He realized that Rose was still asleep. Lots of people talked in their sleep. But her voice saying his name caught him off guard. It felt so wonderful that she had dreams about him. She rolled restlessly and her face contorted in worry. Rose called his name a third time and the Doctor rushed to the edge of the bed, nearly climbing on top of her. His strong hands gripping her shoulders as he said her name in reply.

"Rose, I'm here. Everything's okay." He shook her gently to ease her out of the nightmare. Rose continued to mutter and turn in her sleep. Her voice rose higher with fear. The Doctor scrambled onto the side of the bed and held her close, shaking her more firmly to rid her of the nightmare. Rose woke with a gasp. Then her eyes fully opened to take in the scene before her. The Doctor was there. The Doctor. His face so close to hers and his arms wrapped around her so tightly. He was sitting on her bed and the look in his eyes were filled with such love and worry that it took her by surprise. She sat there in stunned silence for a couple moments when finally the Doctor broke the tension.

"Rose, are you all right?" he loosened his grip on her but still held his gaze. Rose nodded hesitantly.

"Y-y-yeah. Just a bad dream." She shivered from the memory and the cold. The Doctor tightened his hold on her.

"You sure? Do you want a cup of tea? Or another blanket? I'm sure the TARDIS has plenty more," He jumped up from the bed and made a beeline for the door. "I'll go get you one. And I'll make a cup of tea for you as well." And before Rose could make any objections, he was out of the room. Rose sighed and collapsed against the pillows of her bed. Running her fingers through her hair, she recounted her nightmare. It really wasn't that scary in terms of monsters and alien species. The thing she had been most afraid of in her dream, was the absence of the Doctor. She had been searching all over the universe for him and he was never there. What was worse, now that Rose remembered, was the stars going out. Each ball of gas seemed to be ticking away the time she had left to find her Doctor and they were going out too fast. It wasn't fair.

Rose moaned and rolled over in her double bed. She wanted to forget that dream. It seemed so much scarier that she had woken up to blackness and the Doctor had left her quickly afterwards. The similarities to her nightmare were getting the best of her. Refusing to think any more, Rose pressed a pillow hard on top of her head, just as the Doctor sauntered in with a thick blanket slung over his forearm and a mug of steaming tea in his hands. He was whistling a tune of his own composition and sat down on the edge of her bed. Rose sat up. Rubbing her eyes free of small unknown tears, she graciously took the mug from the Doctor's hands and allowed him to spread the blanket over her. She sipped it quietly while the Doctor watched her anxiously.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked after some minutes of silence. Rose sipped more tea out of the mug and shook her head. The Doctor remained focused on Rose as she continued to drink. His hard, old, concerned eyes searched every inch of her face for an indication of anything she wasn't telling him. He hated it when Rose shut him out, not letting him help her. He stayed on the edge of her bed, while she finished her tea. After setting the empty mug on the bedside table the Doctor took hold of Rose's free hand.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk?" he persisted. Rose composed an innocent look on her face. "Talk about what?" she asked.

"Rose," the Doctor pressed. "I know you had a nightmare. And I know it still frightens you." He continued as Rose tried to shake it off.

"Really Doctor, it was just a silly dream," Rose protested. The Doctor held his concerned gaze, not convinced.

"Honest Doctor, I'm fine."

The Doctor sighed. "All right." Knowing she wouldn't tell him what was bothering her, he got up to leave the room. Upon reaching the doorway he turned back towards Rose in her bed. She looked very cozy bundled up in her sweatshirt and the warm blankets. "As long as you're ok?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes Doctor." The Doctor smiled. She sounded so reassuring. He backed out of the room. Before pulling the door to a complete shut, he popped his head back inside.

"Good night, Rose,"

"Good night, Doctor."

The Doctor wandered back to the console and stood there before the time rotor. Gazing up at the column, he wondered how much longer it would take for the TARDIS to regain full power. If she would fully recover. On the off chance that he and Rose would be stuck in the TARDIS forever, he looked back towards the hallway that led to Rose's room. Stuck with her, that wasn't so bad.

As if on cue, he heard a scream from down the hall. Rose must have had another nightmare. The Doctor jumped down the steps and sprinted to her room. Wrenching the door open, he hurried to Rose's bedside and enveloped her in a hug. Her tears were muffled into his pinstripe jacket.

"Shh shh shhh, it's okay. Everything's okay," he mumbled into her hair. He held onto her tighter and rocked her back and forth. The tears subsided, and Rose eased back into sleep. The Doctor gently laid her back in bed and piled the blankets on. Rose awoke to the movement and grabbed the Doctor's wrist as he was laying the last one. His eyes looked searchingly into hers. Surprise and concern emanated from the Doctor's gaze, but mostly a silent question, a plea for her to affirm her desire.

"Please," Rose mumbled, still caught between consciousness and sleep. "Stay." The Doctor complied and settled down beside her, pulling off his chucks and nestling underneath the covers. Rose snuggled closer to him, and buried her head into his chest. he wrapped his arms around her and softly kissed her on the forehead before he slipped off to sleep himself.


End file.
